The invention relates to military land vehicles that carry supplies to support combat forces in a theater of operations. More specifically, the invention relates to cargo vehicles that can be loaded with relatively large cargo modules without the assistance of heavy equipment such as hoists, cranes or special docks. These vehicles are useful for military logistical activities and combat support functions when such heavy equipment is inadequate, absent or destroyed.
My invention is a self-loading truck, trailer or similar vehicle having a unique design to serve the purposes outlined above. The vehicle has frame on which are mounted road wheels, a ground engagement track or a combination thereof. A cargo bed tilts on the frame via a pair of transversely spaced pivot members connected between the aft end of the frame and a location on the bed remote from its ends. A spool on the frame rotates in response to motion of the road wheels or track as the vehicle travels over the ground. A cable running from the spool winds around a pulley on the frame, passes through the bed's slide block, connects to the cargo module and pulls the module slidingly onto the vehicle during vehicle travel. For subsequent unloading, the cable can be removed from the pulley and connected directly to the cargo module, so that vehicle travel causes the cable to pull the module off the vehicle.